Derechos de Autor

Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras are among the most important writings of the Yoga school, and have remained relevant for 2,300 years because of their wisdom and inspiration. In this webinar course, Ravi Ravindra will explore the heart and purpose of yoga as expressed in the Yoga Sutras, with special emphasis on section 2.2 which states that the true purpose of yoga is the cultivation of Samadhi, meaning freedom from the ego-self, and the diminishing of the kleshas, that are the impediments standing in the way of achieving this goal.

The course will be based on Ravi Ravindra’s book The Wisdom of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras.

Ravi Ravindra is a professor emeritus at Dalhousie University, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he served as professor in comparative religion, philosophy and physics. A lifetime member of the Theosophical Society, Ravi has taught many courses in The School of the Wisdom in Adyar and at the Krotona Institute in Ojai, Calif. He was a member of the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton, a fellow of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study in Shimla, and the founding director of the Threshold Award for Integrative Knowledge. His last book was The Pilgrim Soul: A Path to the Sacred Transcending World Religions and his new book on the Bhagavad Gita will be published by Shambhala Publications in the spring of 2017. For more information visit www.ravindra.ca .

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Welcome to Theosopedia

This Encyclopedia contains all the articles of the printed Theosophical Encyclopedia published by the Theosophical Publishing House, Manila. In addition, new articles that are not in the printed version are continually being added. Many of the articles are also being updated.

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Manu

A Sanskrit term given to the progenitors of mankind. In Hindu mythology, there are fourteen Manus, of which the present Manu is the 7th, the Vaivasvata Manu. It is also the name of author of ˜he Laws of Manu or Manu Smti, written about 200 CE.

Theosophical writers seem to have accepted the Brahmanical system as stated in the PURÁNAS. Each of the Rounds and Races is “watched over” by a Manu. Each Round Manu gives rise to a DHYÁNI-BODHISATTVA, who in turn gives rise to seven Manus for the seven Root Races and seven for sub-races, making forty-nine in all. Thus it can be said that during a Day of Brahm€ or period of seven Rounds, fourteen subordinate Manus appear to function as guardians of the life-waves. When used to denote a watcher over a system, Hindu writers do use “Manu,” but Mahāyāna Buddhists use the Sanskrit term DHYÁNI- BUDDHAS.

Each round has a Root Manu and a Seed Manu. The Root Manu presides at the start of a round, and watches over the development of the life-wave. At the end of the round, the Seed Manu takes over to watch over the ®ishµas or seeds during the dormant period of the globe.

The Secret Doctrine gives the following correspondences of each of the Manus in relation to the Rounds:

The Secret Doctrine further states that Vaivasvata, “though seventh in the order given, is the primitive Root-Manu of our fourth Human Wave (the reader must always remember that Manu is not a man but collective humanity), while our Vaivasvata was but one of the seven Minor Manus, who are made to preside over the seven races of this our planet. Each of these has to become the witness of one of the periodical and ever-recurring cataclysms (by fire and water) that close the cycle of every Root-race” (SD II:309).

Later theosophical writings speak also of the Manu as one of the members of the Adept Hierarchy, a seventh initiate, which should not be confused with the Round Manus.